Egyptians are fed up with Morsy

By Frida Ghitis, Special to CNN

Updated 1732 GMT (0032 HKT) July 2, 2013

Photos: Protests in Egypt66 photos

Protests in Egypt – Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy clash with riot police during the swearing in ceremony of Adly Mansour as interim president in Cairo on Thursday, July 4. Egypt's military deposed Morsy, the country's first democratically elected president, the country's top general announced Wednesday. View photos of Egypt after the coup.

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Protests in Egypt – Riot police stand guard as members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of Morsy protest in front of Egypt's Constitutional Court in Cairo on July 4.

Protests in Egypt – People celebrate at Tahrir Square after a broadcast on July 3 confirming that the Egyptian Army will temporarily be taking over.

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Protests in Egypt – Protesters in Tahrir Square celebrate the news that Morsy was ousted on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – An officer gestures to protesters at the gates of the Republican Guard headquarters in the suburb of Nasr City on July 3. The Egyptian military gave Morsy a 48-hour ultimatum on Monday to accommodate his opponents with a power-sharing agreement or be pushed aside.

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Protests in Egypt – Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsy supporters react at the Raba El-Adwyia mosque square on July 3 after the Egyptian Army's statement was announced on state TV.

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Protests in Egypt – Protesters celebrate near Egypt's Presidential Palace in Cairo on July 3.

Protests in Egypt – An anti-Morsy poster is displayed on a wall in Tahrir Square on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – Opposition protesters celebrate on July 3, lighting flares and waving national flags in Tahrir Square.

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Protests in Egypt – On July 3 in front of a symbolic coffin, green lasers illuminate opposition protesters performing funeral prayers for Egyptians killed during clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsy.

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Protests in Egypt – Opponents of Morsy wave national flags during a protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – A man with his face painted the colors of the Egyptian flag looks out as thousands of protesters gather on July 3 in Tahrir Square.

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Protests in Egypt – An opposition protester holds a chair and knife during clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsy on July 3 in downtown Damietta, Egypt, which is north of Cairo near the Mediterranean Sea.

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Protests in Egypt – An opposition protester is beaten by pro-Morsy demonstrators during clashes in Damietta on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – Egyptian Army soldiers take their positions in front of protesters near the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – Women react to the flag-draped body of a victim (not pictured) who was killed during fighting outside Cairo University on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – Thousands of Egyptian protesters celebrate in Tahrir Square as the deadline given by the military to Morsy passes on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – A supporter of Morsy holds a poster that reads, "The people support legitimacy for the president," during a rally in Cairo on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – Thousands of protesters gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – Egyptians salute Army tanks upon their deployment on a street leading to Cairo University on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – An opponent of Morsy chants slogans during a protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo on July 3.

Protests in Egypt – Hundreds of protesters gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo as the deadline given to Morsy by the military approaches on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – Opponents of Morsy shout slogans as they carry a symbolic coffin during a protest in Tahrir Square on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – A protester shouts during a demonstration in Tahrir Square on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – Protesters react after Morsy's speech in a street leading to the presidential palace in Cairo early on July 3. Morsy's angry opponents met head-on overnight with his supporters at Cairo University, leaving 23 people dead.

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Protests in Egypt – A protester runs past a fire raging during clashes in Giza, Egypt, early on July 3.

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Protests in Egypt – People watch Morsy on television in Cairo on Tuesday, July 2.

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Protests in Egypt – Fireworks go off as protesters gather in the streets outside the presidential palace in Cairo on July 2.

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Protests in Egypt – Supporters of President Morsy hold sticks and wear protective gear during training outside a mosque in Cairo on July 2.

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Protests in Egypt – Morsy supporters march in formation in Cairo on July 2.

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Protests in Egypt – Opponents of Morsy camp out as they protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo on July 2.

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Protests in Egypt – Egyptians shout slogans against Morsy in Cairo on Monday, July 1.

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Protests in Egypt – A protester lights a flare as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gather in Cairo's landmark Tahrir Square on July 1 during a protest calling for the ouster of Morsy.

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Protests in Egypt – Protesters pray during a demonstration against Morsy in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Monday, July 1. Pro- and anti-government demonstrations have spread around the country surrounding the one-year mark of Morsy coming into office on Sunday, June 30.

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Protests in Egypt – Egyptian protesters shout slogans and wave national flags during a demonstration against President Mohamed Morsy in Tahrir Square in Cairo on July 1.

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Protests in Egypt – Egyptian protesters ransack the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in the Muqatam district in Cairo on July 1. Protesters stormed and ransacked the headquarters of Morsy's Muslim Brotherhood group early Monday.

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Protests in Egypt – Egyptian protesters ransack the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo on July 1.

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Protests in Egypt – Thousands of opponents of Egyptian President Morsy pray during a protest calling for his ouster on Sunday, June 30. On the first anniversary of his inauguration, Morsy's Islamist supporters vow to defend his legitimacy to the end.

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Protests in Egypt – Protesters stormed the main headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, the party that Morsy led before his election, and set it on fire on June 30.

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Protests in Egypt – Morsy's opponents say his policies are to blame for a breakdown in law and order, for an economy that's gone south, and for a gas shortage that has Egyptians waiting at the pumps for hours. Here, protestors fill the streets of Cairo on June 30.

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Protests in Egypt – Protesters sit on top of a power pole as they chant slogans against Morsy outside the presidential palace in Cairo on June 30. "Egypt is on the brink of a volcano," government-run newspaper Al-Akhbar said.

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Protests in Egypt – Protesters set off fireworks on June 30 outside the presidential palace.

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Protests in Egypt – Protesters wave national flags and a red card in Arabic reading "leave" in Tahrir Square during the June 30 demonstrations against Morsy.

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Protests in Egypt – Protesters take a rest near Tahrir Square on June 30.

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Protests in Egypt – A protester watches an Apache helicopter as it flies over Tahrir Square on June 30. Morsy's opponents stood their ground in the square, where protests two years ago helped topple Hosni Mubarak's 29-year rule.

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Protests in Egypt – The demonstrators say they collected 17 million signatures -- roughly 4 million more than what won Morsy the presidency -- and all of them call for Morsy to go.

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Protests in Egypt – An Egyptian protester chants slogans during the June 30 rally.

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Protests in Egypt – Hundreds of thousands of Morsy opponents chant outside the presidential palace on June 30.

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Protests in Egypt – Morsy opponents protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo on June 30.

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Protests in Egypt – Thousands of Egyptian protesters gather in Tahrir Square on June 30.

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Photos: Protests in Egypt – Morsy opponents wave a giant national flag outside the presidential palace on Saturday, June 29.

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Protests in Egypt – Supporters of the president shout slogans at the opposition near a mosque in Cairo on June 29. "We're not leaving, and the president is staying," one supporter told CNN. "We believe in democracy. If people don't like him, they can vote him out in three years."

Protests in Egypt – Morsy supporters, armed with sticks and shields, stand guard at their protest site in Cairo on June 29.

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Protests in Egypt – A protester waves a national flag over Tahrir Square on Friday, June 28.

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Protests in Egypt – Egyptians help a wounded man following clashes between Morsy's supporters and opponents in Alexandria on June 28.

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Protests in Egypt – Morsy supporters demonstrate in Cairo on June 28. Protests also erupted in Suez, Sharqia, El Monofia and Gharbiya, the state-run Ahram news agency said. And in the port city of Alexandria, so many people turned out that traffic virtually came to a standstill.

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Protests in Egypt – A Morsy opponent waves Egyptian flags during a protest outside the Egyptian Defense Ministry in Cairo on June 28.

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Protests in Egypt – Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters conduct Friday prayers in front of a Cairo mosque before the start of a sit-in for Morsy on June 28.

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Protests in Egypt – A chained protester wearing a picture of Morsy participates in an anti-government protest in Tahrir Square on Wednesday, June 26.

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Story highlights

Millions take to the streets to protest against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy

Frida Ghitis: What's striking is the intensity of anger at the Muslim Brotherhood

She says Egyptians realize that Morsy's government is not living up to its promises

Ghitis: The discontent and protests show that Egypt's revolution is far from over

One of the most striking aspects of the massive protests that have broken out across Egypt is the intensity of the people's anger directed at the Muslim Brotherhood.

Welcome to the second wave of the Egyptian revolution.

Millions of people have poured onto the streets, marking the first anniversary of Mohammed Morsy's swearing-in as Egypt's president with a demand that he step down immediately and make way for new elections. If Morsy refuses, they plan a campaign of civil disobedience that could paralyze the country. Now the army has stepped in with an ultimatum, telling Morsy he has 48 hours to satisfy the protesters' demands.

The organizers, a group known as Tamarod or "rebel," say they have already collected 22 million signatures in support of their demands. That's far more than the 13 million votes Morsy -- the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood -- received in the presidential election, and a sign that discontent has spread beyond the liberals, or former regime supporters.

Frida Ghitis

The opposition's push for new elections has clearly capitalized on Morsy's dismal record, particularly on the economy's downward spiral and the chaotic security situation. But there's more to this protest than a call for jobs, bread and safe streets.

Underpinning the calls for change is a growing understanding of the meaning of democracy, and an increasingly pervasive sense that what Egypt has had under Morsy is not the system that Egyptians had in mind in 2011 when they overthrew a deeply entrenched dictatorship.

When Egyptians poured into the streets in early 2011, they wanted to topple Hosni Mubarak, the dictator who had ruled the country for three decades. They succeeded in ending dictatorship, but their revolution took a sharply different turn from the one envisioned by the young idealists who occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Unlike the Brotherhood, Mubarak's rule had no overarching ideology other than cementing his hold on power. The Brotherhood, by contrast, has a distinct ideology, and it is moving steadily, if gradually, to put it into place. It essentially wants to use its interpretation of Islam as the guiding principle for the individual, society and the state. And it ultimately wants to unify all Muslim states into one, to "liberate them from foreign imperialism."

Egyptian protesters want Morsy out

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What happens to the Brotherhood in Egypt will affect Brotherhood parties across the region. Already its image of incompetence and noninclusiveness is a stain that will be difficult to erase.

In Egypt, Islamist parties quickly moved to the forefront of the post-Mubarak political scene. The Ikhwan, as the Brotherhood is known, had a head start in political organizing. It competed on a stage where other parties had barely taken shape, vying for voters who had practically no experience with democracy. Not surprisingly, the Brotherhood won every election, although its margin of victory steadily narrowed.

Liberal activists had struggled to explain to voters a number of basic democratic concepts, such as secularism, protection of minorities and rule of law.

Now Morsy and the Brotherhood have done Egypt a great service by demonstrating what these ideas mean.

Many Egyptian protesters accuse Morsy of governing for the benefit of the Muslim Brotherhood rather than for the country as a whole. A year under Morsy has shown some of the important yet subtle aspects of democratic rule, such as the fundamental concept that winning elections does not mean the winner gets to ignore all the concerns of the opposition.

The Brotherhood's intentions and Morsy's credibility started to become troubling when they repeatedly broke their word. They vowed not to field a candidate for president, not to seek to control the parliament, not to try to dominate the constitution-writing process. And they broke every promise.

Morsy's reputation took a steep dive after he seized dictatorial powers in November. The protests forced him to reverse course, but he failed to lead the country through its "Constitutional Moment," the pivotal period in history when it has the opportunity to reach a national consensus -- much more than an electoral victory -- to write a constitution that is embraced as legitimate by the nation as a whole.

Instead, Morsy and the Ikhwan have taken their thin electoral victory as justification for gradually expanding their hold on the country's institutions. They rammed through a constitution that does not provide a strong guarantee of equality for women and for minorities. They have allegedly worked to suppress critical media, allowed inflammatory speech against non-Sunni Muslims, and rejected all criticism as work of foreigners and "falool," as nostalgic remnants of the Mubarak dictatorship are known. They have gone after nongovernmental organizations, seeking to hollow out the influence of grass-root groups, particularly those working on democracy education.

Ironically, one year under a Muslim Brotherhood government has proven quite helpful in educating Egyptians about democracy.

Morsy and the Ikhwan have inadvertently helped explain how in a democracy, the rights and the voices of minorities, even of election losers, must be heard. They have unwittingly shed some light on the complicated concept of secularism. In the first wave of elections, many voters thought if they were Muslim -- as most Egyptians are -- they should vote for the Muslim Brotherhood. And they thought secular was synonymous with atheist. Now they're discovering how religion can be exploited for power.

Egyptians accuse Morsy and the Brotherhood of engaging in a process of "Ikhwaninzation," a quest to take control of state institutions and impose their Islamist views on the population.

Unfortunately for Morsy and the Brotherhood the protesters are more experienced this time around. Egyptians have learned that it's not enough to topple a dictator.

It is unclear where this second wave will lead. The opposition is still divided and its small component parts may still not be large enough to defeat an Ikhwan party in a new election. But the protests are a sign that the revolution is far from over, and this time its target is the Muslim Brotherhood.